A co-worker of mine who works in London bought a Honi Honi mug for me from there a few months ago so I know they do have some merchandise to sell. By the way, I heard the remodel is done or nearly done. Be sure to post pictures of the new decor!

On 2013-08-29 16:42, GentleHangman wrote:I'm sorry . . . but to me, the "perfect" Mai Tai is Vic's original recipe which he was kind enough to openly share with the rest of the world. The only modern variation - the rums you use . . . at the original rum Vic used hasn't been available for decades.
Just MHO.

Are you quibbling with Val's proportions? Just curious. Because not only are the rums different, but curacao, orgeat and lime quality varies also, not only since back in the day, but among the options available today. You could very easily follow Vic's instructions to the letter and make a crappy drink.

You need to know your ingredients and balance accordingly, if the goal is to make a delicious drink, IMHO.

The PKNY crew had worked out their menu to a science. If a brand used in a recipe became unavailable, the whole recipe had to be reconsidered with the new replacement ingredient. Also, every cocktail ingredient pour was measured to perfection. Consistency was important.

I like Martin's video and his instructions are fine but the color of his Mai Tai is ALL WRONG! I don't know why it looks like mango juice (yellow/orange) in the video when the rums he used should give it a darker amber color. They don't have that color in his bar so it must be an artifact of the video.

On 2013-08-30 09:18, TropicDrinkBoy wrote:I like Martin's video and his instructions are fine but the color of his Mai Tai is ALL WRONG! I don't know why it looks like mango juice (yellow/orange) in the video...

Both Vals & Martin Cates mai tais end up 'mango' coloured.

For the purposes of research I've had a few high end & low end mai tais recently. My thought is:

The better mai tais I've had have been made using home-made syrups. They have been darker than mine. If you are using brown sugar syrup over white sugar syrup, it darkens the drink. If you are using orgeat made with brown sugar, this also darkens the drink.

I attribute the 'mango' colour to that. My mai tai pic on page 1 looks weak-ass compared to those in the videos but was tasty anyway. I used white sugar syrup & white orgeat.

For a while Im going to experiment, particularly with brown sugar syrups - I wonder if the better the syrups, the better the mai tai?

The PKNY crew had worked out their menu to a science. If a brand used in a recipe became unavailable, the whole recipe had to be reconsidered with the new replacement ingredient. Also, every cocktail ingredient pour was measured to perfection. Consistency was important.

I'm sure they made some delicious drinks but since you're claiming PKNY was "perfection", have you seen Richard Boccato—of PKNY—do their '34 Zombie?

I stick by what I posted. Trader Vic's Mai Tai to me is the 'perfect' Mai Tai. All others are personal variations, nothing more. Nothing wrong with personal variations as long as one doesn't claim it to be the 'perfect' one. It's a matter of opinion. As far as the rum is concerned, we have no choice: the original 17 year old J. Wray & Nephew went out of production decades ago and we were left with the need to substitute rums we imagined wouldcome close to the flavor and body of the original single rum. For me it's Appleton Estate 12 year old coupled with St. James Martinique rum. Other people have their own favorites and I don't quibble with that.

There's no such thing as a "perfect" Mai Tai, nor a perfect rum to use. You can talk about an "original" Mai Tai, but even that probably wouldn't match the platonic ideal of a Mai Tai. Hell, Vic used commercial orgeat!

A Mai Tai isn't specific to a particular rum, although it was created with one. But as Vic himself recounts the story, he took down a bottle of "great rum" -- the 17-year-old J. Wray Nephew -- that was "surprisingly golden in color, medium bodied, but with the rich pungent flavor particular to the Jamaican blends." It didn't have to be THAT rum. It was just a great rum Vic wanted to showcase. (This is all assuming, of course, that any of this is true.)

He certainly used other rums to make his Mai Tais over the years, finally settling on the combination of 1 ounce dark Jamaica rum and 1 ounce Martinique rum.

All of this is instructive -- but the "best" Mai Tai is the one YOU like best. Who cares what anyone else thinks?
_________________David J. Montgomery
Professor Cocktail